Break Free Fest Spotlight: Rare Form - WXPN | Vinyl At Heart
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Rare Form | via rareformhc.bandcamp.com

After a successful inaugural year, Philadelphia’s Break Free Fest returns to The Rotunda this weekend for two days, bringing POC and other marginalized voices in the punk scene together and to the front. All week long leading up to the event, we’re highlighting some of the performers on the bill.

Rare Form / Philadelphia, PA
rareformhc.bandcamp.com

For the final preview of this weekend’s Break Free Fest, we spoke with Kayla Bastos, singer of Philadelphia hardcore band Rare Form who will be playing their final show at The Rotunda on Sunday.

Despite only being around for a couple years, the band managed to accomplish a lot. From touring the West Coast to opening up for a bunch of legendary acts including Madball to putting out a fantastic album to … having their song “Not Ur Baby” covered by Radigals, a feminist hardcore band from Singapore? Yup, that happened, and it’s amazing.

So watch that video, listen to the Rare Form album (it’s short and sweet and will take about 10 minutes), read this interview, and get yourself pumped for Break Free Fest!

1) Who is in the band, how long have you been around for, and how would you describe what you’re doing to someone who might not be familiar?

Rare Form is me, Emily playing drums, Justine on bass, and Ethan and Andrew playing guitar. We’ve been a band since 2016, and I guess I’d describe our band as five people who like different types of hardcore making music that we have fun playing.

2) What are you most excited about when it comes to Break Free Fest? Why did you decide to play your final show at the festival?

I’m excited to see some bands I’m not familiar with and to hang out with friends and just chill for the weekend and be surrounded by like-minded people. We decided to make Break Free Fest our last show because it just felt right. We knew we weren’t going to be a band anymore and Scout had asked us to play the fest so we figured that would be a good “last show” to have. It’s an important fest to me, being one of two POC in the band. I love my bandmates and I’m happy to have been able to go on tour with them and we’ve had some the best times of my life together, and even though I’m sad were ending it, I’m excited to be able to end it at Break Free Fest.

3) Talk to me about your local scene/community and some bands or anything else going on that you want to rep:

There’s some really cool bands in Philly right now. I gotta shout out my homies in Luxe and Jesus Piece. The other members of Rare Form (except me) are all in other amazing bands that are actively playing shows are killing it right now. Emily is in a band called Corrode from MA, Justine is in Demodex from here, Ethan is in Torso and also in Luxe, and Andrew is in Big Man. Also check out Complex and Stagger from Philly!

Break Free Fest takes place April 26th and 27th at The Rotunda at 40th and Walnut in West Philadelphia; single-day tickets and all-weekend passes to the all-ages event are available here.

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